I agree, on Saturday with the rare appearance of the sun making the garden a viable proposition, they were so low you could count the rivets. They seemed to be turning over Cookham to line up with Heathrow for their final approach as opposed to somewhere nearer Reading as per normal. An awful lot of noise........

Please write to the local MP (Teresa May) if you have time. She is well-respected and does fight on our behalf. It's fun to complain about the noise here but, aside from raising awareness, it probably doesn't achieve too much else. Does anyone have a good explanation for why the aircraft (on takeoff) have to be so low so far away from the airport?

In May I mentioned there was a consultative document that had been issued asking to reduce the minimum aircraft height to 3,000 feet (in some case this equated to a 60% reduction in height). The traffic to be redirected away from areas of high density (ie Windsor) to come over Cookham. It has been admitted that this will increase the low flying distance from Heathrow and also will increase pollution levels. The proposal is to increase the amount of traffic gradually over the next five years.

The Royal Borough (see press release below-worth a read) was one of the councils that went to the High Court over it, our Cookham Parish Council said that they had had no information so had not filled in the consultative forms.

Aircraft noise policy 'meaningless' - RBWM Press Release May 2008

Cllr David Burbage, leader of the Royal Borough, has called on transport secretary Ruth Kelly to clarify the government's attitude to aircraft noise after a court ruled that she was under no obligation to improve conditions for residents woken up by early morning arrivals at Heathrow

At the High Court today (Friday May 23) Mr Justice Sullivan said that while the government had a policy of bearing down on night noise this did not necessarily mean that it had to make things better.

Windsor and Maidenhead, Wandsworth and Richmond councils claimed that the transport secretary had acted unlawfully in failing to properly address concerns over the misclassification of aircraft arriving at Heathrow before 6am.

Half the planes in this early morning period had been placed in the wrong noise category. If they had been correctly classified they would not have been able to fly.

The error affected the Boeing 747-400 RR, the main type used by airlines during the night quota period at Heathrow.

The government argued that because the night flights scheme pooled noise data over the three London airports it did not have to take specific action on what was a Heathrow problem.

The local authorities also argued that actual noise levels for all the early morning arrivals breached the limit of 87 decibels set for departures. If the government's objective was to protect residents from excessive noise, it should have acted on this discrepancy.

Cllr Burbage said: "The judge has exposed the emptiness of government policy on night noise. The objectives are so vague as to be meaningless.

“It's time for Ruth Kelly to stop hiding behind her lawyers. Today's ruling makes it clear that the current night flight arrangements are designed for the benefit of the airlines.

“It's not clever to have drafted an important environmental policy in such a way that no one can understand it. By not being explicit in its aims the government leaves the clear impression that looking after residents' interests comes a very poor second.

“Our residents in Windsor, Old Windsor, Horton, Datchet and Wraysbury will be astonished to learn that, provided the numbers stack up at Gatwick and Stansted, ministers do not have to do anything about night noise at Heathrow.

“The government's policy on night noise is not worth the paper it is written on. It will be difficult now for residents to have any confidence that ministers will make a proper assessment of the environmental impact of Heathrow expansion.

“We will be joining with the other councils to step up our call for a complete ban on night flights, which has been the Royal Borough’s policy for many years."

On average there are around 16 early morning arrivals each day between 4.30am and 6am. Eight of these are ranked in a QC2 category when subsequent noise tests showed they should have been in a higher band (QC4) for which there is a scheduling ban at this time of day.

The application for judicial review was also supported by Kensington and Chelsea, Hammersmith and Fulham, Hounslow, Lambeth and Hillingdon councils and the GLA.

All the councils are members of the 2M Group which campaigns against Heathrow expansion. For more information visit www.2MGroup.org.uk

We did file a response to NATS from the Cookham Society on behalf of all its members objecting to the proposed changes. However with all these things it's imperative that individuals and Parish Councils respond as well. In Hertfordshire there was a substantial public response and NATS are considering moving the propsed routes in response to the outcry. The interim feedback report can be seen at the NATS website.

I have been woken at 3.00 a.m with plane noise, but now its is more at 5.00 a.m one after another. I am a light sleeper and this disturbed my nights and when you do not sleep very well this is very annoying.

For goodness sake...You will get used to it! I've moved from London to Cookham just over a year ago and the noise is much better here than in many other places. I don’t even notice it in Cookham.I bet over 95% of you complainers use a plane if not at least once a year. And why should it be ok for them to fly over other towns and villages except Cookham? What makes Cookham so special?

Anyhow, the way things are going there won’t be anymore companies left to run the planes soon.....see problem solved!

We were having tea in the garden with visitors between 4-5pm on Sunday and the plane noise was continuous throughout, worse than I can ever remember it. In fact, it was so loud and unpleasant that we were forced indoors for a bit of peace and some audible conversation.

It was nearly always possible to hear at least two, if not three, planes at the same time, often at least two were clearly visible at once and several of the planes were almost overhead and extremely noisy.

We enjoyed a whole day in the garden on a Sunday about three months ago with hardly any disturbance, which is how it should be, so what has changed and what can we do about this? We cannot be expected to put up with this continuous noise contamination - no-one should have to live like that.